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Boss (novel)
Boss is an upcoming novel written by Matthew Little. Synopsis The novel is told from the first-person perspective of 21-year-old Peter. He moves from his alcoholic mother's home to the city of Redford, Massachusetts to stay with his best friend Danny in hopes of finding a job and starting his life out. Peter, by luck, lands a part-time job as a waiter in a little restaurant downtown. While working one evening, he serves a man named Rob DeCosta, a pseudo-local celebrity known for his souvenir shop in the next town over. Immediately, Peter finds Rob extremely attractive, afterwards spends some of his time stalking Rob online, even though he's married. Days later, Peter meets Rob again at his work and the two sit and have lunch together; just before they depart Rob tells Peter to come by the shop sometime, and Peter hopes there's some kind of hidden agenda in Rob's words. Peter believes Rob is up to something, and hopes he's right, but Danny disagrees and thinks it's not possible at all. Eventually he does, and Rob informs Peter that he was secretly thinking about having an affair with another man, which excites Peter. From there the two begin a sexual affair, much to Peter's delight. But soon after things start to go awry once their secret is discovered, and once Rob's wife and son figure out what's going on. Background The novel is somewhat autobiographical and contains certain events in Little's life, one of them being that Little had moved in with his best friend, Chris, after living with his alcoholic mother and step-father. The major plot-point of Peter and Rob's affair is actually based on an affair Little, while single, had with an older married man back in 2014. Little, then 23, had been seeing a 50-year-old married father. While he refuses to say who the man was, he has stated that he was well-known in their community, and was extremely unhappy with his marriage and was hoping on getting a divorce. Little has commented on the affair, "It's not something I'd say I'm necessarily proud of, but at the same time I'm glad it was me that he used as an outlet for the feelings the guy was having. He was in actuality bi, but couldn't go forward with that side of himself because he felt like had he, he wouldn't have been as successful as he was, which I found wicked sad. I also thought it was a thrill to sneak around and really play this forbidden love kind of card, although it wasn't love, it was actually experience. I did sort of love him, though. I would have gladly married him had there not been so many obstacles between us." Characters Peter: 21 years old. Peter is based on Little as far as his looks and personality goes; he describes himself as having a "cub" build. He moves to Redford, Massachusetts to live with his best friend as well as escape the drama caused by his alcoholic mother. He confides in Danny his attraction to older men, seeing it more as a fantasy rather than a reality. Rob DeCosta: 48 years old. Co-owner of "DeCosta DeCorations", which is a popular souvenir shop in neighboring Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Rob is described as a thick man with a gut, but he "wears it well", who always wears formal attire such as polos and khaki pants. He is married to Christie DeCosta. Rob meets Peter and they both strike up a quick friendship, although Peter suspects Rob has other motives in the way he talks to him. When this is confirmed, they gradually become romantically involved. Danny: Peter's best friend. He is categorized as a "twink" due to him being skinny. He works for a bank and is well off financially, and pushes for Peter to find better work; in this he almost acts like a parental figure to Peter, even at the protest of Danny's boyfriend Kyle, whom himself has a playful nature and tells Peter to go for it. Writing Little began writing Boss in June of 2015. Originally, the story was going to be about a guy who falls for a mobster; Little was inspired to write a story like that after watching the film Goodfellas on AMC. The title Boss originally was meant to signify that Rob's character was heading out to become a mod boss. He had even outlined the whole story with his friend Chris, whom he based the character Danny on, and added various elements of gang crime and tragedy. But as he wrote it, he realized that he didn't know much about mafia life other than what he had seen on television, so he left it aside. Little's interest in the story was sparked up again in 2016 after reading the novel Carol. At that time Little had only written the first two chapters of the book and neither of them touched upon the subject of mafia life, so he decided instead to abandon that theme and have it be more about the affair he had experienced in real life. Themes The central theme throughout the novel is the relationship between a young man and an older gentleman. Little has called it a "daddy story". This stems from Little's own fascination with the trope as well as his own attraction to older men. Little has said that his goal in writing the story was to showcase the kind of hookup "most young gay men dream of, getting with a married man, somebody off limits entirely". While he doesn't condone the act of cheating, he enjoys the level of secrecy and tip-toeing that comes from a relationship of that kind. Sexual orientation plays a big part in Boss, as Rob's character has an awakening while spending time with Peter. Rob is bisexual, but had repressed that side of him for so long without almost never being able to embrace it. Little wanted to show that kind of mindset coming from an older man, as it "happens more than we might think, because they're still in that mindset where it feels wrong when in actuality they're just lying to themselves and whoever they think they have to be with". He hopes the story will comfort men dealing with that kind of emotion, "and either act as a visual fantasy or a map out of whatever feeling they don't want to have anymore". Little has expressed fear that women who read the novel will think he's attacking them; his reason for it comes from the way Little writes Peter's thoughts about Rob's wife, Christie, and how he doesn't care for her or that he's inadvertently hurting her through his selfish actions. "Married women everywhere, I think, are gonna hate me when they read it because they'll project Rob on their husbands, and think that I, or others, are trying to get them, and that's absolutely not the truth. I'm not in any way advocating the stereotype that gay men are predators coming after straight men; I'm advocating the act of finally being able to express who you are, and I'm sorry if sometimes that has to happen to someone who once thought they were happy with the life they were to share together."